BUSTED: MDE EXPOSES STORY EDITING BY DFL

Now it's Democrats pulling news story off Web site

The state DFL Party pulled an Associated Press article with an altered headline from its Web site Tuesday, two weeks after Republican Rep. Rep. Mark Kennedy drew criticism for selectively editing news stories posted on his campaign site.

The DFL Party removed the story soon after the AP alerted a party official that it was looking into improper use of the wire service's material. A Star Tribune article was posted in its place.

Ironically, the story at issue deals with the Kennedy flap. Kennedy is running for the U.S. Senate next year and his campaign changed several stories from the AP and other news organizations to remove negative comments about him. The campaign has since changed its posting practices.

The DFL substituted the AP's headline about the Kennedy incident — "Kennedy campaign says it will provide links to full articles" - with a slanted one - "Mark Kennedy Misleading Minnesotans About His Record." The party also used bold and italic type to emphasize parts of the AP's Aug. 10 article.

Bill Amberg, a DFL spokesman, said the party took the AP story from the Star Tribune newspaper's Web site before adding the new headline and emphasis. The Star Tribune's rewrite of AP copy matched the story on the DFL site, with the exception of the headline.

"We're not guilty of the same offense'' as Kennedy, Amberg said. "Obviously, I'm not stupid enough in a story where Kennedy is doing this to do the exact same thing.''

Amberg added, "Why aren't the Republicans and Mark Kennedy working on health care, Iraq and education issues Minnesotans care about rather than surfing Web sites to try to get political revenge?''

Heidi Frederickson, a campaign spokeswoman for Kennedy, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Dave Pyle, the AP's Minnesota bureau chief, said any use of AP stories by a nonsubscriber is unauthorized without the company's permission.

"Even if a political candidate or party were authorized to use AP content, AP would not permit alteration of the content by the site,'' Pyle said.

Pyle turned the matter over to AP's attorneys in Washington after an anonymous blogger, with the help of a Republican operative, brought the matter to the wire service's attention. Source: Associated Press, August 23, 2005